League 2 relegation thread 14/15

[shoddycollins]

You were hardly among the very worst in League 1 last year, you only got relegated on the final day and it's not like you had a Stockport kind of calamity (though Tranmere amazingly who finished higher are doing even worse), so was at least a top-half finish not a reasonable objective at the start of the season?

The calamity we suffered last season was one of shockingly low morale rather than anything more tangible. At one point we looked on course for a mid-table finish, which would have been good going given our shocking start, and then, probably due to Kavanagh's lack of man-management skills, the players just gave up. The loss of a few influential loanees contributed, but also players who had performed reasonably well up to that point started putting in more and more poor performances. We sank back into danger fairly quickly, but then we had a attractive looking period where we played the other four teams in the bottom five. We got three goal-less draws and were then thumped 4-1 at Notts County.

They then completely failed to turn up to games that were both winnable and vital against mid-table opposition, home to Oldham and away to Crawley. Those two games were in the season's final month, other relegation threatened teams envied our 'easy' run-in, we should have won them and had we won then we would still be a League One team. But we played for a draw at home to Oldham and were hit with a sucker-punch, and then played out a dire nil-nil draw in a 'last chance to save yourselves' game on a Tuesday night in Crawley. Not disrespecting those teams but they had nothing to play for and in the Oldham game (which I was at) Oldham didn't really look up for it.

Although we were in with a mathematical chance of surviving on the last day it was the slimmest of chances, requiring us to beat Wolves, other teams to all lose and a goal difference swing towards us.

The worrying this is that while Curle has come in with a radically different approach to Kavanagh, injecting the club with positivity in his first few months, history is starting to repeat itself, and Monday's game at Accrington is a case in point. We're lucky there are only two relegation places in this division instead of four in the division above.

it does seem increasingly apparent from your comments and recent results that his was a poor appointment, and to get comfortably beat in easily your easiest away game left, basically rolling over against a team who have only just avoided relegation, and aren't even that far away as away Carlisle games go, suggests a real lack of passion and spirit in the side, and surely the bulk of the blame for that has to lie firmly with the manager. And to have a got at the players, HIS own players now, for lacking professionalism and fight at this critical stage of the season shows a desperate man clearly feeling the heat and pressure - surely he knew what was in store for him and the challenge involved when he took on the job in the first place?

I'm sure he did know, and everything seemed to be going well until after Christmas. We never pulled totally clear but he was doing well given the squad he inherited and the position we were in when he took over. For a long time we were getting around 1.5 points per game. Dave will point to a recent home game to Shrewsbury where we were 1-0 and playing better until they scored goals in the 93rd and 94th minutes to win the game as the turning point and he may be right. There was a hit on morale after that but perhaps also deeper pre-existing problems came to the surface as we went on a run of defeats, players reported the club to the PFA and who could forget the group of players on Boxing Day deciding the best preparation for an important six-pointer was to go out on the lash?

 

[WH_Stag]

Cheltenham, Tranmere, Hartlepool & Carlisle to be replaced by Barnet, Bristol rovers, Grimsby & Macclesfield for being so awful.

The standard of football in league two has got so poor over the last decade.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

I was meant to post this at weekend, well done to dags and accy on survival. Not sure how both achieve it on small budgets.

Sometimes I wish we had their dogged determination

 

[cufc17]

Cheltenham, Tranmere, Hartlepool & Carlisle to be replaced by Barnet, Bristol rovers, Grimsby & Macclesfield for being so awful.

The standard of football in league two has got so poor over the last decade.

Despite how shite we are, I wouldn't say Mansfield are too much better. You're only 3pts ahead of us, and that was with a very poor start to the season.

You can be replaced by Woking, I'm sure Cardsfan would like that.

Having said that, Mansfield will not go down so no need to worry.

 

[daviejones]

Despite how shite we are, I wouldn't say Mansfield are too much better. You're only 3pts ahead of us, and that was with a very poor start to the season.

You can be replaced by Woking, I'm sure Cardsfan would like that.

Having said that, Mansfield will not go down so no need to worry.

Yeah I was gonna say... people in glass houses and all that. Realistically the bottom 6 or 7 are all pretty dire and could probably be replaced by the best conference teams and not see much of a change in the quality of the league.

 

[AdamStag]

Yeah I was gonna say... people in glass houses and all that. Realistically the bottom 6 or 7 are all pretty dire and could probably be replaced by the best conference teams and not see much of a change in the quality of the league.

We are shit, we know that.

That first half by carlisle in September was easily the worst ive seen by a side, but even then they nearly pulled it back

 

[hellogregory]

We are shit, we know that.

That first half by carlisle in September was easily the worst ive seen by a side, but even then they nearly pulled it back

We're back to that level of performance, if not worse. Our game on Monday was worse than that first half. Now you must surely understand why I'm saying we're 100% relegated.

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

Let's just say for arguments sake, Tranmere lose there next 2, quite possible, despite Carlisle losing 15-0 in 2 games you will still be 3 clear with 3 to play, hardly 100% relegated!

 

[Duffy]

If Mansfield are out of trouble, then so are York...but I don't buy it just yet. We have Hartlepool at home on Saturday and if we lose that it will look quite worrying again.

Three left at home and two away. We're shite at home and the away games are at Shrewsbury and Portsmouth. I'm going to all of those so an early couple of wins would be nice to allow some relaxation. But that's never been the York way.

Both Mansfield and ourselves probably need one more win.

 

[wilsontown]

Both Mansfield and ourselves probably need one more win.

I agree, but I feel better about it if I add "... or three more draws" to the end as that seems more likely.

Most of our fans seem to think we'll get nothing out of the last three (Shrews (A), Newport (H), Portsmouth (A)), which would mean that we need to get a win out of our next two home games. Our record in "must-win" home games isn't exactly stellar.

I'm a bit more optimistic and reckon we'll get 4 points out of that last three, and one way or another I think we'll cobble together 4 or 5 more points and be fine. But we could well still need something at Portsmouth...

 

[hellogregory]

If Mansfield and York lose every one of their remaining games, I still think they'll both stay up.

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

It's rare for teams to lose 5 on the bounce; at worst Mansfield might end 3rd or 4th bottom but will be safe by the last game, the final table may not tell the whole story

 

[hellogregory]

It's rare for teams to lose 5 on the bounce; at worst Mansfield might end 3rd or 4th bottom but will be safe by the last game, the final table may not tell the whole story

I don't think they will lose 5 on the bounce, I just think if they did, they'd still survive by the skin of their teeth.

I think us and Cheltenham will get no more than 43 points.

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

I hope you get 2 points tomorrow just to show you up!!!

 

[daviejones]

I don't think they will lose 5 on the bounce, I just think if they did, they'd still survive by the skin of their teeth.

I think us and Cheltenham will get no more than 43 points.

If we win tomorrow do you think we'll stay up? And don't give me the 'we aren't going to win' comment, just assume we are, do you think we then stay up?

 

[hellogregory]

If we win tomorrow do you think we'll stay up? And don't give me the 'we aren't going to win' comment, just assume we are, do you think we then stay up?

If by some miracle we win tomorrow, I think we'd be in with a chance as long as results elsewhere go for us. The reason I say as long as results elsewhere go for us is because our 4 games that follow are horrible and more than likely 4 defeats.

I said last week before the Portsmouth game that we needed a minimum of 6 points from the next 3 games to stay up. If we win tomorrow that will be 4 points from the 3 games. Not good enough but if results go our way it will put us in with a chance.

Having said all that, I really really can't see us winning tomorrow. It would be a miraculous turnaround after Mondays performance. I'd be very surprised.

 

[Stagat]

It's rare for teams to lose 5 on the bounce; at worst Mansfield might end 3rd or 4th bottom but will be safe by the last game, the final table may not tell the whole story

We've lost our last four...

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

I said rare not impossible! That would have to extend to 9 to get relegated, only in Hellogregorys world does that type of run happen!

 

[hellogregory]

I said rare not impossible! That would have to extend to 9 to get relegated, only in Hellogregorys world does that type of run happen!

Not 9 straight defeats in my world. 5 or 6 yeah (or 7 in Luton's case).

 

[1884 Belmont]

I said rare not impossible! That would have to extend to 9 to get relegated, only in Hellogregorys world does that type of run happen!

To be fair, we've lost 5 in a row twice this season. If we go (and it's more than likely), then that's where it will have happened. That's almost 1/4 of the season and half of our total losses. Luton lost 7 in a row until Monday, Mansfield have lost 4 in a row already - it does happen.

 

[hellogregory]

We lost 4 in a row after we won at Tranmere. That's where it all went tits up for us, that's where relegation became a reality for me.

 

[daviejones]

We were playing 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th placed teams to be fair... we didn't have much of a chance, and to even be beating Shrewsbury in the 92nd minute or whatever it was was pretty impressive and should've given us confidence. Just a shame that that was the first of the four instead of the last.

 

[dedwardp]

I said rare not impossible! That would have to extend to 9 to get relegated, only in Hellogregorys world does that type of run happen!

We lost nine games in a row two years ago, and it took the ninth defeat to finally send us into the bottom four. Amazing.

FWIW though, I do generally agree with you here - there will be unexpected results, Carlisle won't end the season nine games without a win, I'm sure of it.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

We lost 4 in a row after we won at Tranmere. That's where it all went tits up for us, that's where relegation became a reality for me.

I'd disagree there because the bigger damage was done in 2 games this last month in which we could have dragged 2 badly out of form sides right into the relegation mix while pushing ourselves out of it and in both cases we murdered our morale while allowing both them sides a confidence boosting win.

namely Oxford and accrington - both of which I think may have gone down but for our gutless performance vs both....I didn't see either Oxford or accy winning another match previous to their games vs ourselves when our players didn't give one sh*t about how important them games were.

to be totally effortless in them 2 games was a disgrace really and if we do go down we deserve in for our shocking attitude at crucial moments in season.

 

[hellogregory]

I'd disagree there because the bigger damage was done in 2 games this last month in which we could have dragged 2 badly out of form sides right into the relegation mix while pushing ourselves out of it and in both cases we murdered our morale while allowing both them sides a confidence boosting win.

namely Oxford and accrington - both of which I think may have gone down but for our gutless performance vs both....I didn't see either Oxford or accy winning another match previous to their games vs ourselves when our players didn't give one sh*t about how important them games were.

to be totally effortless in them 2 games was a disgrace really and if we do go down we deserve in for our shocking attitude at crucial moments in season.

That Shrewsbury game I knew we were down. The manner in which we lost it despite playing so well, it really damaged us.

I'm convinced that had we held on to win or even draw that game we'd be safe by now.

 

[hellogregory]

We were playing 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th placed teams to be fair... we didn't have much of a chance, and to even be beating Shrewsbury in the 92nd minute or whatever it was was pretty impressive and should've given us confidence. Just a shame that that was the first of the four instead of the last.

It did the opposite, it shattered all the confidence we'd built up.

If we'd held on v shrews we wouldn't have lost the next 3 games I'm sure of it.

 

[shoddycollins]

I'd disagree there because the bigger damage was done in 2 games this last month in which we could have dragged 2 badly out of form sides right into the relegation mix while pushing ourselves out of it and in both cases we murdered our morale while allowing both them sides a confidence boosting win.

namely Oxford and accrington - both of which I think may have gone down but for our gutless performance vs both....I didn't see either Oxford or accy winning another match previous to their games vs ourselves when our players didn't give one sh*t about how important them games were.

to be totally effortless in them 2 games was a disgrace really and if we do go down we deserve in for our shocking attitude at crucial moments in season.

I agree. It's like the Oldham and Crawley games at the end of last season. Or the Stevenage, Shrewsbury, Tranmere and Notts County games we had in succession.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

While I can understand HG's feeling we're too bad to survive, one thing I always keep in my mind is 2001/2002 season when I was 100% sure we'd gone and we survived.

that Wrexham away game when we got thumped 6-1 and you went down into the section under the away stand to see people in tears and total dejection, abit like after Mondays game and looking at the next game away at auto-promotion chasing torquay then a tough 'loser relegated' game away at Shrews.....it looked impossible.

then suddenly next game we're 3-0 up away at 2nd-3rd placed Torquay in a ridiculous win and head to Shrews beat them and survive.

too many twists and turns to rule anything out yet.

 

[hellogregory]

If we win tomorrow do you think we'll stay up? And don't give me the 'we aren't going to win' comment, just assume we are, do you think we then stay up?

Now I've answered this, I'll turn it around... If we lose tomorrow, do you think we're all but relegated?

 

[shoddycollins]

*fingers in ears* lalalalala sorry did you say something HG? Lalalala